The campaign group NO2ID burn giant identity
cards
(PA/EMPICS)
How does it affect me?
According to the government, anti-terrorist laws won’t affect
most of us. They’ll lock up the bad guys and we’ll all be safer.
But there are good reasons to be sceptical.
Mission creep
Laws are often passed for one purpose and used for others. Take
the Protection from Harassment Act, which has been used to protect
animal-testing laboratories from the ‘harassment’ caused by protesters.
The Home Office now says that animal rights activists ‘should
not be surprised to find themselves treated as terrorists’. Many
people believe that peaceful protest is gradually being made illegal.
Community scapegoating
A Home Office minister has said that British Muslims are more
likely than other people to be treated as potential terrorists
– and they should just accept it. If the police get even more
anti-terrorist powers, and they are used the same way, there are
going to be some angry Muslims. In the 1970s, many Northern Irish
Catholics were interned without trial for months or years at a
time. The idea was to weaken the IRA – but the effect was to increase
support for the IRA.
Magna Carta and all that
Even if we aren’t directly affected, anti-terrorist laws could
change the way we feel about our government. Since 1215, when
the barons made King John sign the Magna Carta, English law has
never allowed imprisonment without trial. Is the terrorist threat
really bad enough to make that big a change? |
